Why Do Hearing Aids Cost So Much
Seniors Choice Newsmagazine, November 2005
The reasons hearing aids cost so much are:
1. They are sold in relatively low volume (i.e. approximately 1.7 million hearing aids for some 30 million hearing impaired) are sold per year, as compared to several million stereos.
2. The amount of time and money spent by manufacturers on research and development is considerable. One manufacturer reported spending over twenty million dollars developing a single model.
3. The amount of time spent by an audiologist with a patient is very significant. Data indicate that an average of five direct contact hours is spent during the first year a patient receives hearing aids. This time is critical for new users, particularly to assist during the acclimatization process. Mail order or budget clubs can afford to sell hearing aids at lower prices because the electronic components often are inexpensive and the hearing aids themselves are often placed on the user with minimal (or in the case of mail order) no instructions or fine tuning adjustments.
Furthermore, the patient may be charged for every return visit, including minor tubing change and adjustments. Thus, in the long run the patient is likely to pay as much or even more. Additionally, the minimum amount of training required for a dispensing audiologist is a Masters degree while mail order or discount centers are often staffed by sales people having minimal technical training. Audiologists, like consumers, are concerned about keeping the cost of hearing aids affordable. The reality is, communication is one of the most important skills humans have. So if wearing hearing aids allows you to resume normal activities and communicate with loved ones, the cost becomes a lot more justifiable.
When posed with this question by my patients, I will occasionally reply to them with the following question: "If you had to pay money each morning to hear well just for that day, how much would you be willing to spend?" Typically, people will respond with anywhere from $10 to $20 a day. If we take this as a daily cost, that would mean that over a 5 year period (which is the average life expectancy of a hearing aid), these people would be spending from $18,000 to $36,000.
This is obviously far more than the actual cost of today's most advanced (and expensive) hearing aids. If we take a lower end hearing aid at $1000 per aid, and a high end hearing aid at $3400, and assume that the individual will be wearing two hearing aids, we are looking at a cost of $1.00 to $4.00 a day. When we compare the improvements in quality of living gained from hearing aids to that gained with, let's say, a $2.00 cup of coffee, we can easily realize the true value of improved hearing. How much more valuable is our hearing than a cup of coffee?
If you have any hearing-related questions please send them to me at
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or submit them directly to me at either of my offices. Colin VanBergen is a clinical audiologist, and manages both the Kelowna and Westbank offices of the Okanagan Hearing Clinic.
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